As the only LED manufacturer to offer lighting-class LEDs in the entire ANSI color space, Cree, Inc. announces expanded binning for the XLamp(r) XP LED family. Cree is sub-binning its entire warm/neutral white color space into the industry's smallest offerings while also standardizing two cool white bins.

Cree's XLamp XP-E and XP-C LEDs, in the industry's smallest warm-white bins, are now available to order with standard lead times. Cree has also standardized two cool white bins for the XLamp XP LED family covering the ANSI-defined 5700K to 6500K color space, primarily used for outdoor lighting.

"By offering smaller bins -- that are more in line with traditional lighting expectations -- we can better serve our customers' lighting-class LED needs," said Paul Thieken, Cree marketing director, LED components. "These new XLamp XP LED bins are 75 percent smaller than before, allowing customers better control, color and consistency."

"Noticeable color differences among similar white-light sources could reduce the visual aesthetics of the lighted environment," said Dr. Nadarajah Narendran, director of research at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lighting Research Center. "Our previous research, sponsored by ASSIST, has shown that smaller bins offer improved color consistency among LED lighting fixtures."

The ANSI C78.377-2008 standard outlines eight quadrangles on the blackbody locus, covering the cool-to-warm-white color space. The U.S. Department of Energy cites this ANSI standard in its ENERGY STAR(r) Solid State Lighting 1.1 criteria.

Cree adopted the proposed ANSI-color space for warm and neutral white in 2007, nearly a year before the C78.377standard was formally published. Upon publication, Cree began offering 4 sub-bins within each ANSI quadrangle. With today's announcement, each warm/neutral ANSI quadrangle is sub-divided into 16 discrete bins -- each 75 percent smaller than previously offered and 94 percent smaller than the ANSI C78.377-standard.

About Cree Cree is leading the LED lighting revolution and setting the stage to obsolete the incandescent light bulb through the use of energy-efficient, environmentally friendly LED lighting. Cree is a market-leading innovator of lighting-class LEDs, LED lighting, and semiconductor solutions for wireless and power applications.

Cree's product families include recessed LED down lights, blue and green LED chips, high-brightness LEDs, lighting-class power LEDs, power-switching devices and radio-frequency/wireless devices. Cree solutions are driving improvements in applications such as general illumination, backlighting, electronic signs and signals, variable-speed motors, and wireless communications.